The Acrobat's Daughter
by ElizaSchorn
Summary: The apple doesn't fall far from the tree... and it doesn't wait that long to fall either!


_A/N… I own no characters you know and love. If you love Marian, great! But her, I own. This story is based off of my happy AU where everyone knows who Batman is, and the Bat-family is relatively safe and sane. Of course, this will never happen in DC comics. It's up to us fan fiction writers to give our favorite Bat the happy ending he deserves._

Bruce Wayne was in the middle of an extremely dull board meeting when the door opened, and a small child with a mop of black hair and blue-green eyes trotted into the room, up to Bruce and tugged at his pant leg.

"Gran'pa?"

The board of trustees looked disapprovingly at the intrusion and glanced at Bruce.

"Yes, Marian?" Bruce asked, determinedly ignoring the board.

"Gran'pa, I know I'm not 'posed to be in here, but look!" Marian Grayson held up her elbow. Alarmingly, it was quite bloodied up. Bruce let out an exclamation of dismay. He knelt down so he was on the same level as Marian.

"How did this happen, Mari?" he asked. "Fiona," he called out to his secretary, "Could you get some clean, damp towels please." He turned back to his granddaughter who looked guilty for some reason. "Well?" he prompted.

Marian squirmed. "I fell."

The board shuffled papers and cleared their throats in a manner they obviously thought to be diplomatic. Bruce gave them a barely watered down version of the 'bat-glare'. They desisted.

"Yes, that's pretty obvious, young lady. The question, however, is _why_ did you fall."

"I was trying to do somersaults."

"Did you knock into something at the end?"

"No," said Marian, twisting her dress mercilessly. "I jumped off the stairs in front here." she waved a hand around at the walls.

"What!?" Bruce exclaimed, "Why would you do that?" Fiona came back with the towels and some gauze, and Bruce began sponging Marian's arm.

"I was trying to do it how you do it, Gran'pa."

Several of the board members exchanged disapproving looks.

Bruce sat back on his heels and barely glanced in their direction. The board flinched involuntarily, and then looked annoyed with themselves for doing so.

"Marian, how many times do I have to tell you? That takes practice, sweetheart. Lots of practice. Years, in fact. You can't just go jumping off buildings without proper training."

"They were _stairs_!" Marian said indignantly. "And I practiced jumping off the couch at home _first_."

Bruce scowled exasperatedly. "The couch at home is barely a foot off the ground. The stairs you were using just now are about five feet higher. It's a wonder you didn't break anything."

"But Daddy won't teach me!"

"Thank God he has some common sense." muttered Bruce.

He finished cleaning Marian's scrape and wrapped it up with the bandage Fiona had brought.

"Alright, Mari, I want you to wait with Fiona while I finish up here."

"I don't want to wait with Fiona, she calls it baby-sitting, and I'm not a baby, I'm seven years old!" Marian drew herself up proudly.

"If you can't stay out of trouble, little miss, you'll be babysat all the time."

Marian pouted for a moment. Then she looked up slyly. "If I'm really good, can we get ice cream for dinner tonight?"

"For dessert." clarified Bruce, "Dinner will be actual food."

"Is that a yes?" asked Marian, giving Bruce the 'Bambi' look.

Bruce chuckled. "Yes, Marian. Now scoot!"

Marian took off, and they could hear her say, "Gran'pa's getting ice cream!" to Fiona before the door closed.

Bruce shook his head, muttering. "Jumping off the stairs… I'll need to talk to Dick later."

He laughed suddenly, and turned to the only other person in the board room who had looked upon the little girl with patient amusement. "Lucius, you remember the time when Dick had somehow managed to get up into –"

"- into the chandelier in the hall at Wayne Manor?" finished Lucius, smiling, "I remember." The board remained wooden. Bruce and Lucius shrugged at each other as if to say: "Their loss."

Suddenly, the door opened again and Marian stuck her head around it. "If I'm really, really, _really_ good, can _you_ teach me how to do somersaults?"

"No!" said Bruce, pointing at the lobby outside. "Go on now!"

"Okay, okay!" giggled Marian. She grinned at Lucius, stuck her tongue out at the board members, and withdrew from the doorway, shutting the door with a bang.


End file.
